zaftig

adj.

1. Full-bosomed.
2. Having a full, shapely figure.

[Yiddish zaftik, juicy, from Middle High German saftec, from saft, juice, from Old High German saf.]

(ZAF-tik, -tig)

adjective
Full-figured, pleasingly plump, buxom.

Etymology
From Yiddish zaftik (juicy), from Middle High German (saftec), from saft (juice), from Old High German saf (sap).

Usage
"The generational conflict is set off between the blossoming Ana (America Ferrera), a Mexican-American teenager who has a chance to attend Columbia University on a scholarship, and her mother, Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros), who is determined that Ana follow convention and go to work with her in a Los Angeles sweatshop. Carmen's blithe cruelty comes out of love; she's ashamed of her daughter's zaftig figure and whittles away at Ana before the entire world." — Elvis Mitchell, Full Figured and Ready to Fight (film review: Real Women Have Curves), The New York Times, Mar 22, 2002.

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Zaftig — pleasingly plump — was what MSNBC said Paris Hilton was not when the conversation turned to her weight and what she thought of other skinny women (her comment is thought to refer to Nicole Richie, her ex-best friend):

"'A lot of women are too thin. But I like food too much,' the not-exactly-zaftig heiress said while promoting her new album. 'I think the ones who are getting really skinny look gross.'"

Link: Paris thinks skinny women 'look gross' - Gossip: The Scoop - MSNBC.com

Posted July 19, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

also zoftig

adjective

Well-rounded and full in form: chubby, plump¹, plumpish, pudgy, roly-poly, rotund, round, tubby. See fat/thin.

pleasingly plump